10 Years Later...

It has been over a decade since the last time the Heavens Feel ritual was attempted and ultimately failed. Since then, The Einzbern family head has had to put his plan B into effect due to the disaster that the last war brought for the Einzbern family in its attempt to recreate the miracle of the third magic. However, the old man wasn't done yet, as he still had two other pawns left to offer for this new up-and-coming grail war that he had made almost 20 decades ago in real time. The two pawns in question were completed and just needed to be released out of the chambers they were being stabilised in. He made his way down to the workshop and checked on the two test subjects, as they seemed ready and lifelike enough for the eyes of this grumpy old man. We witness in real time from the mind's eye of the girl who is in this tank that the scene was very eerie as her lifeless eyes looked around as she was still in the test tube, unable to look around but still having the capacity to stare at the scene that is unfolding in front of her. The old man in front is very patient as he analyses the container in front of him and is impressed at his own creations that he had made. He decided in a few minutes he would let these women out and they would be free to explore the world as they see fit so long as they are firsthand aware of their purpose and reason for why they exist. He decided to do a little test before he would decide whether these women were worthy or not to be fit for the up-and-coming holy grail war that is about to ensue in a few months. He would toss both women out into the frigid air and environment outside to see if they would survive the various wild animals and predators, the cold, and the lack of resources that were in this place. If they failed, he would make a new model for both or perhaps combine the master and lesser grails. If they succeeded, he would let them go, they would be informed of their purpose, and then afterwards they would finally be set free to do whatever they wanted, provided they knew the end game. Thus, the plan was set as the old men released the women from the testing chambers, and they were out of the green liquid that was in the tube. He walked them outside afterwards, and the two women followed as if they were dolls with no true agency at this point and merely obeying the old man as if he had puppet strings over their minds and hearts. As they walked with the elder to the entrance, he pushed them into the fresh ground and then locked the door, which instinctively caused the women to be surprised at such an outcome as they had not been expecting this kind of situation to unfold. Nonetheless, they were left in the cold environment to fend for themselves, but this was not the worst. No, the worst was yet to come, as the two women had trekked a decent way through wolves and other wild animals. The older one carried the younger one to safety as they ran inside a thick log that they could both hide in while in a crouched position as they let the wolves attack the log and make it roll downwards from the hill as it struck an old tree and bent it slightly. The two dolls were frightened as they let out a slight shriek of terror, and they were in an uncomfortable position as the two had to figure out how to deal with the wild and crazed animals that were still lurking around this forest. Besides, who knows what other dastardly traps and monstas were lurking around, waiting to grab the young women and kill them on sight? What made this worse is that the two young women didn't exactly have a sense of self as regular humans do at this point, making communication besides hand gestures and verbal gestures nigh impossible at this rate. Even so, the two homunculi knew they had to dispatch all the obstacles that lay in the way of freedom, but what would they do? There was no weapon or anything of use that could be obtained at this moment to crush the wolves or other animals. Even if they were to perish, then what? The other obstacles might prove even more perilous and potentially invulnerable to physical attacks as well. At this point, if they couldn't kill the obstacles, their best hope would be to survive, move around the forest, and get the old man's approval for their courage and perseverance. The sisters," using hand gestures and signs, moved around the forest to try and avoid the animals that were around it due to having no means of fighting back effectively against the attackers. However, that was not all, as zombified corpses from the river and other areas started to rise from the dead, advance towards the duo, and start to come out in droves of 2 to 3. These corpses were possessed by evil spirits that had lived in the bounded field created by the Einzberns. The duo then pushed a log down from the hill they were running on, and it rolled back the zombified corpses that were following them at the bottom of the snow hill. The scene was almost calm if it weren't for the fact that the two dolls were running for their lives and using any means that they could access to combat all the dangers and horrors of their own castle forest. The duo decided to split up at this point, using the major pathways of the forest to divide the hostiles and reduce the risk of all of them coming together in one location. Which was a smart move on their part as the creatures now had to slit up and go their own ways individually to try and kill these "girls". The one who went in the darker and less easy-to-navigate pathway was given the name Isbert, aka meaning ice sword in German. She was the more adventurous of the two, even at this early stage in her mental and spiritual development, and this showed in how she chose the riskier and less mapped-out path in the forest to avoid the hostile creatures that were chasing her and her "sister". Meanwhile, her "sister" Emillia was going down the path that was easier to traverse, was less dark in terms of cover, had far fewer creatures going after her, and was more reserved and cold in her personality as opposed to her "twin". Nevertheless, both of the homunculi had dug up ditches in the ground to weather the storm; after all, this trial wasn't about killing all the creatures but merely surviving long enough to be acknowledged worthy by the old man as being fit to finally achieve the 1000-year-old dream of the Einzberns in this fifth installment of the Heavens Feel ritual. The reaching and reenactment of the miracle of the third magic, which would allow the beholder to materialise the soul into a higher dimensional construct that houses the magic circuit, memories, the origin, etc., would allow true immortality and an infinite supply of magical energy, among other very powerful benefits, if the Einzberns managed to complete this ambition, such as making the soul capable of interacting with the material world as a mental body without having to return to Akasha. But, to get that attainable heaven on earth, you have to go through hell first, and hell is this plus everything else the "girls" endured to this point, not to mention what kind of trials will befall them in the fifth holy grail war. The elder "sister" is in the deep end of the forest at this point and has for now evaded the hostile creatures and hordes of mobs that were after her. She decided to build a mini-camp at this point to survive and wait out the ensuing chaos that was going on in this whole forest. Bounded fields are a topographic network of magical energy that is weaved together over an area, such as a pool or a house, to separate and create a boundary field around the inside from the outside. The Einzbern head long before Acht had created a bounded field over the castle that allows whoever the head is to survey the entire area no matter where anyone hides, and in addition, it also allows them to set up evil spirits and store discarded homunculi that were failures as training dummies or as obstacles for new models to prove themselves worthy of the current master's appraisal. It also keeps the area snowing all year around, even in the summer and springtime outside the bounded field. It will never see sunlight again in this area, making it a very advanced and powerful bounded field that is the pinnacle of the Einzbern magecraft. Thus, the old man can see where his experiments went, even if they went to a faraway place. As long as they were in the bounded field area of effect, he could sense and watch the two girls every move with great ease. But he was surprised that the duo never fell into the pit trap of all the other models before them, just trying to fight off the creatures and failing miserably. Rather, they seemed to think smarter in spite of the fact that it had only been a few hours since food and water were released. This was no concern to the homunculi, as homunculi can sustain themselves so long as they have magical energy, and thus they don't need to eat, drink, take a dump, piss, etc. In a way, they are more evolved and efficient than normal human beings; they lack the concept of ageing as well as having far higher magical potential than human magi and dead apostles due to being magic circuits given human form as opposed to an organism that possesses magic circuits. But the downsides are that they may never grow sexual reproductive organs normally and also suffer from other defects such as short stature, lower Iq, shorter lifespan, etc., among other things, as well as having less physical strength than humans on average. However, once again, the magical potential of homunculi as compared to human magi is far higher, and the quantity and quality of magical energy they can store are also much higher than human magi due to the aforementioned reasons. Finally, after what seemed like a couple of hours, the creatures all gave up and suddenly left. This came as a pleasant surprise to the duo as they finally came out of their hiding spots and decided to come out as they both had a long walk towards the castle. After what seemed like another hour of walking constantly, the duo arrived at the castle's footsteps and were greeted by their "Great Grandfather" as he stood there with his eyes looking at his two test subjects and guinea pigs! He then spoke up with his thin crevice of a mouth.

"I congratulate you for your passing of these trails; not many can pass these, as evidenced by how many models and dolls I had to discard in order to get about 5 or so success stories at the cost of many tens, if not hundreds, of failures that I had to discard in this very forest you had set foot in. Getting good models for all of the heaven-feel rituals was not an easy task, luckily, Justeaze Lizrich Von Einzbern, our great founding ancestor, passed all of the knowledge on how to make successful models, and to this day, none can match our ability to make artificial humans. The old man spoke proudly, as if he were proud of his ancestors and his own current and past achievements. He then lets the two girls inside as he sits them down in a room and begins to explain to them what their true purpose is. That one is the master of one of the servants in the war, and that other is the keystone or lesser grail for this ritual, as she will collect the souls of defeated heroic spirits and open up the lesser grail once all seven are there and the winning master makes his wish, whenever that will be. He then lets them know he has a gift for the one who is to become a master as he hands her a red gem that has the label printed on its side. philosopher's stone, as the woman (Isbert) takes it with great curiosity and decides to give it one long stare in a childlike manner as if she never saw expensive ornate jewels before. The woman gave it a longer stare before taking her friend and deciding to go, as they were let off by the elder due to having proven themselves to him, and they decided to first acquire a sense of self and knowledge of the outside world, as both severely lacked that and the ability to speak properly with words and sentences as opposed to just hand or sign gestures that relayed information. So off the girls go, and they are given all sorts of essentials by the old man in order to safely travel abroad without being detained or questioned as they grab the stuff and then finally leave for good, at least for a time.

Meanwhile, in a faraway place….

The space was very bizarre as it was pitch black; it was a completed world as it had points of light in addition to the aforementioned jet black. At the centre of this space that was a perfect sphere in shape that was dyed in the colour of the night sky stood a wooden chair. An observer may call this chair extravagant, and on the surface that may be true; however, the chair's construction did not give off the impression that it was built by some snotty and haughty aristocrat but by a person whose mere presence generated conspicuous gravity, and it imbued the space with such a feeling as well. The construction of its refined wood was eye-catching, and if a person sat in this chair, it would hide them from the surrounding view and be consumed by its sheer weight. Such was its significance and power. The space that the chair was in was solely to exalt the chair's magnificence and power. An old man was sitting in this magnificent chair with a solemn expression as he rocked the chair. Based on this man's appearance, he looked to be in his late 50s to early 70s, was wearing a black outfit, and had black eyes and white hair with a short beard. The chair creaked as he rocked it back once more. If one were to draw a map of the universe, this man would be at the centre of it, along with his chair and the jet black-coloured room with its kaleidoscope pattern around it as a background prop meant to reinforce the mystique and mystery of this strange old man. The man's stern face showed how much pain and trail he had gone through to get to this moment; his eyes were almost dead, and he looked as if he were uninterested in the whole ordeal. Hmmmm," the old man thought as he brought out a book with the thickness of a standard American encyclopaedia and flipped through countless pages, "damn it, none of these outcomes are entertaining enough for me. Normally, I would be doing this because of some unforeseen catastrophe, but this time it's different. I am doing this to entertain myself." As the old man flipped through the pages, thousands of pages were erased and brought to life at the same time as he kept flipping through his book, inscribing information in real time, each representing a universe and the future that it would transpire. This old man, after continuing this activity to relieve boredom, finally spoke up. "I should be careful about interfering normally. I don't interfere in these manners, but I decided to have some fun after all this holy grail war seems to be rather interesting." The old man known as Kishur Schweinorg Zelretch kept talking to himself as he sat in his chair and flipped through the book with a finger raised in the air as the book levitated, and he foresaw all of the masters for this up and coming holy grail war, what servants they would have, what moves they would make, even what place of work they would have, and other very personal details of the future masters, down to the last bit of information. "The protagonists should be these girls." Zelretch the Kaleidoscope Man thought as he came across the faces of two Einzbern homunculi, which he was careful not to look at as he could set fate and narratives in place by merely looking at them directly at his book. Nevertheless, to say he wasn't fascinated was wrong, as he indeed was; however, he wasn't sure if this outcome would be entertaining on its own. as he kept flipping through the book one last time before wanting to ask his "old friend" he arrived at another face which he once again promptly looked away from once more due to not wanting the path to be a fatalistic and deterministic one that is solely decided by him he wanted to see if the futures and people he saw would still be determined even if he doesn't canonise them directly "hmm this girl with purple hair who doesn't know any form of agency and is more or less emotionally dead and is doll like, like an Einzbern homunculus but humanoid instead of being a mad magical alchemical creation the girl also was taken advantage of and other things that are disgraceful and disgusting had happened to her. It seems she would make a good observer for this holy grail war, someone who I could follow the holy grail war through after all, given her abilities as a magus despite being born in a great house and being adopted by another great house, the same two she was born and adopted into that I used to work with some centuries ago for this ritual, and yet, she is inept and is as powerful as your average person due to her condition of not being able to cast spells very effectively due to once again reasons by the Makiri. She is probably weaker due to the fact she lacks physical finesse and training, but she is interesting and entertaining enough to get behind as an observer of this holy grail war in a few weeks. What's your opinion on this old friend? "The old man who seemed to be speaking to himself was actually speaking to a communication device on a furnished table behind his furnished chair, which had a lavish old-style telephone one would find in the olden times. However, it was not made of cheap materials but rather of an expensive and ornate jewel. As to how long the telephone was in the room, there shouldn't have been anything to indicate that the telephone was there for more than a few minutes, but due to the weird space, the telephone had naturally blended into the background as if it were always there. Instead, addressing the telephone confirmed the existence of the phone, as if the room's very history had been rewritten. "With a little more time at hand, I would've rung the phone myself." A youthful voice came out of the telephone; it seemed as if the phone itself was speaking out of its own will. "Do I strike you as an old man who only talks to himself?" Zelretch inquired to the voice on the old-style telephone. "Did you ask because you knew it was me?" The voice on the phone rang as it answered confidently. "Of course I know. Where do you think we are? The number of people who can get here I can count on my two hands," the old man answered matter-of-factly. So, what business do you have as the old man glances at the blue telephone? If you're here for tea, come back later. I am busy with something at the moment.

Yeah, actually, I am here because of what you're trying to do." What? Was the old man of the jewels reaction when his telephone buddy blurted that out loud. "Like I said, if you're going to pick an observer to spice up the Fuyuki grail war, don't pick someone predictable and powerful who acts like a magus."

Zelretch then spoke his mind as he had his book opened out and turned the page where it had a picture of a girl with illustrious violet hair, a plan-looking face, and violet eyes that seemed to be devoid of all life. Zelretch turned his eyes away as he didn't want to canonise that reality just yet. "This girl will be our observer, through whom we will see the holy grail war of Fuyuki, the fifth installment, like some bad action movie these mortals make. I was thinking that I should inscribe her servant, and trust me that this servant will be perfect for the girl at hand, the one through whom we shall observe this incident very carefully." The old man said as he backtracked and calculated by manipulating fate, cause and effect, and all of that juicy stuff to grant the girl her servant what she will use to summon what day, etc. due to the fact that Zelretch has now found an interesting person to observe the world through.

"If you want to intervene that badly, why don't you travel to Fuyuki yourself and watch the events unfold?" The man behind the telephone inquired:

"Not necessarily, I am not intervening that heavily, and besides, I only picked this girl because I was rather fascinated at how entertaining this grail war would be if we followed this girl who has never known something called agency in her whole life and who is arguably a slave to everything and also is suffering from a very heavy personality disorder due to having bottled up her trauma, which makes this very interesting to observe, don't you think, old friend?"

"That's good enough, but I would like to add someone else into the mix to make it more entertaining, if you will."

"What?" The old man stared back at his friend on the telephone.

"You have to be careful when you interfere; the world is fixed to one path; its cause and effects, its fate, and the narrative you set out are fixed, and unless you interfere again, it will remain this way." The telephone man states verbatim what happens when Zelretch Schwinorg decides to intervene on a worldline.

Yes, I am aware that normally, for that reason, I don't interfere, but this is a special case that I have taken interest in due to wanting to spice things up a bit and also to entertain myself when observing this."

Zelretch decided to take out his trusty book one last time and decided to flip through the pages as it was opened up. Inscribed on those pages was information relating to the person and the face they had on the page.

At times it was a male, and at times it was a female.

At times, it was a sickly person; other times, it would be a bodybuilder or a very athletic person.

Sometimes it would be an evil person who kills in the dark of the night; Other Times it would be a righteous saint who inspires hope in others.

Sometimes it was a priest or other religious figure; other times it was a magus or practitioner of magecraft.

At times it would be an elderly person; sometimes it was a young child, woman, or man.

Flipping through the countless qualities such as race, gender, sex, body type, personality, clothing, occupation, and age, the book's pages turned with incredible momentum.

"You're quite confident in the turning of planets and the wider universe they are surrounded by."

"Manipulating the labyrinth leading up to the future is my specialty; what happens after this doesn't concern me unless it's not good or catastrophic." The old man states rather plainly to the telephone man as he continued the page turning until he arrived at a strange-looking man with dark raven blue hair that could from a distance pass off as black and with glasses who was in his early twenties and around 5'10" in height and whom also wore a white jacket with a black shirt. He also has two sets of special eyes, one of which doesn't change his eye appearance and the other does. "You sure about this old friend?" Kaleidoscope Zelretch asked as he then elaborated his hesitation: "This strange-looking man, well, to be blunt, his parallel counterpart doesn't exist in these sets of worlds the holy grail wars take place in; rather, it seems this man is from worldlines where a holy grail war and heroic spirits are worthless fantasies that don't exist. Thus, it seems very questionable to force him to be in this worldline where he may be overwhelmed and overturned by this environment. However, to say I am not interested in throwing this man into these words is stupid, as it would shake up the dynamic quite a bit as we can have a second observer that will entertain and spice things up for us in these worlds. After all, I only somewhat jokingly intervened because I was bored and wanted to entertain myself with this holy grail war. And so, I shall put this man the one who doesn't belong in this to begin with and who believes in absolutely nothing in here just to see what kind of chicanery and trolling will unfold here and how this minor actor will impact the stage" Zelretch the kaleidoscope man finally stopped as he seemingly answered his own question to which the man in the back behind the phone gave him praise and was onboard with Zel's idea to throw a random dude who is unrelated in to the holy grail war just to see the chaos that'll unfold Zelretch does his thing and makes it happen not giving a damn what happens knowing that this small fry will not cause the extinction of humanity or anything disastrous for the mage's association so he need not to worry a bit.

Day One: Boring Start

I woke up today as the sun shone down on me. It was a boring day today, and nothing has changed. I was rolling around in bed as I stared at the clock in my room, which says 6 a.m. dead on. I got up and decided to put on some clothing as I realised I was naked and only wore a sheet to cover myself. I pick out my school uniform and use it to hide all of my imperfections. I put on my jacket and dress shirt, tie the ribbon on them, and finish it off by wearing leggings to cover all of the nasty-looking marks on my legs. I decided to hurry downstairs and eat some breakfast. The crummy and awful-tasting "food" this place had was bad, to put it lightly, but it was the only thing I could eat, and even then I don't eat very much of the food around here due to the fact that my sense of taste is very off, but I have to get used to it. I must bear it so that my grandfather and Nee san don't come after me for being a bad child. So I ate up and decided to hurry away before Nee San came here. I don't want him to do something bad, so it's best to avoid him for now. Especially since, due to some school stuff, his mood is particularly foul nowadays. I walked quietly to school and decided to take another path again because I didn't know why, but something told me that Nee San avoided this path to school for some reason. I arrived at school a little bit after 30 minutes of walking, and I was early as it seemed not many students were at the gate, and some came here because of club practises like the track club or the archery club. I, Sakura Matou, am a part of the archery club because I found it to be fun and something I am good at. I am not very good at most things, and I don't have friends at school. Due to this, I just sort of go along with the flow and hope things turn out better if I listen and submit to everyone's wishes. I make my way to the club, and I see Mitsuzuri San. She is waiting. She is as energetic as ever and very assertive as a leader, unlike what I do mostly at home or every other place I frequent. I have a list of things I need to do and not just describe what I have to do, but also how I must do it and what needs to be done, among other things, so I don't forget my priorities, as I am often a clumsy and forgetful person.

The first thing I have to do is go to the archery club, which I am making my way to. The reason I want to go there is because I want to clean it up. The reason I want to clean it is because club members are expected to clean it up when it's their turn to practise, and I wanted to practise a little today before I go to classes. I am going to get a mop and broom and start cleaning away before Mitsuzuri senpai and Fujimura sensei notice me. I get the mop and start cleaning away as I get every scrap of dirt and little smudge that is on the floor. I make it good as new, and I change into my dojo uniform and start practising away.

I practise a bit before I hear the door open, and I see Mitsuzuri senpai come in. She started to ask me why I am here at this hour, and I kindly replied that I came here to practise, and I also wanted to ask her something about Nee San and the archery club. For some reason, he hasn't been visiting it, even though before he used to come here all the time. Even when I was here, he still used to drop by and say hello to Mitsuzuri senpai. I continue to practise and try to prove myself as Mitsuzuri senpai claps in the back and makes some really silly jokes about how I am the rising star of the archery club and how I will be number one in the first few years among the club. I continue practising, and eventually I stop as I want to ask something to Mitsuzuri senpai about wanting to keep Nee san in the club, and she replies with something along the lines of "It's fine, Sakura, you don't have to force him to stay; it's his choice if he wants to stay or not."

I then sigh, look down, and nod as I agree with what she said. Suddenly, a strange visitor came in as someone opened the doors, and a strange woman came in as she was wearing a red coat with the school's uniform. It was Tohsaka senpai, and she and Mitsuzuri senpai were talking for a while about some typical high school stuff that even I understand and get but can't hope to aspire to because of how plain and unworthy I am for that kind of stuff.

"Good morning Sakura!" as the woman wearing the red coat greets me, and I turn around and greet her, "Good morning Tohsaka senpai." I bow at her, and she asks me, "So Sakura, what are you doing here?" I reply with "Nothing much, Miss Tohsaka, as I again bow apologetically and decide to show Miss Tohsaka the club and what a fine job I did secretly in cleaning it. She was impressed, but then stated she has no plans to join it and she doesn't care about archery, which saddened me. My personal thoughts on Miss Tohsaka are very conflicted. On one hand, I admire her and look up to her as the rest of the school does for her academic excellence and how amazing and talented she is in most things. On the other hand, her life seems a little too perfect, and it gets on my nerves. I don't know why it does, but when I say that out loud, it makes me even more mad, like she is plastic and lacks any true human experience; it's like she is sheltered from hardship. However, I stop myself as I try to avoid resurfacing a dark corner of my mind that is ugly and wishes for Tohsaka's senpai's suffering as I push this vulgar aspect of myself away and away. I leave the club after changing, and I head to my classroom. I arrive outside a room with the initial 1-C as I get my things and sit down. I decided to kill time by getting my journal out and writing in it as I wrote all of the things that had happened so far as I waited patiently for my homeroom teacher to arrive.

The day passed pretty uneventfully as I sat around and waited until the last period finished. Lunch time was probably the most eventful in this boring school as I ate some things that I had in my lunch box, but I didn't eat that much because I can't eat a lot for some reason, and whenever I try to, I just can't, or I throw up, and it causes me to not eat a lot after such incidents. Anyway, the second thing I had written down on my to-do list was to go grocery shopping. There is a shopping centre in Miyama that is close by that I can go shopping at, so I have to hurry up before Nee san or my grandfather find out and punish me.

I arrive at the shopping district in Miyama, search around for the grocery store, and then buy all of the groceries using the little loans my grandfather gave me. I buy everything and carry it back. I decided to walk back after giving my thanks to the shopkeeper. I had used up most of my allowance to buy these goodies as I trekked down the road. I struggle a bit when carrying the groceries, as you can tell. I am not the physically strongest when it comes to doing stuff like this, as I am having a hard time lifting all of these groceries, and I don't think I can walk all the way without stopping at least once, if I am being honest. Nevertheless, I still try to walk with all of this stuff on me. I struggle a bit as I walk, carrying all of these goodies with me. However, a stranger came from the side and offered to help me. He seemed to have seen that I was struggling and decided to lend a hand. I decided to let him after trying to get his hands away. We carried the things until we arrived at a children's park. This stranger, who had dark raven blue hair that could easily pass off as black from a distance and had black eyes with typical glasses with square rims and slightly darker skin than my own skin tone, decided to put down the things in front of me and sit down at the park bench. He asked me, "You looked like you needed help, so I saw from a distance and decided to help out." I was flustered by such a compliment and looked away from this boy or whatever as my face turned a little bit red.

"You're the bashful type, it seems." The strange man remarked as he sat down on the bench and looked at me with his plain face. I looked away and had no words to say as I looked at this strange man once again. He seems to act like a puppy if you take his generic glasses off. I ask what his name is, and he replies almost instantly, as if he had expected such an outcome. "My name is Tohno Shiki," he states rather confidently. I was taken aback by this: "Shiki Tohno?" That's an odd name; never in my life have I heard of the name Tohno. I assume it's a branch family of the Tohsaka? Tohsaka? He stuttered a bit in confusion as I elaborated, "Ye the Tohsaka, they are a powerful family in this city, and they are the custodians of this land and its spiritual caretakers?" "I see," the man stated in defeat, but he continued, "No, the Tohno have nothing to do with the Tohsaka; the family you described right now is the Tohno, who are mixed blood descendants; they are mixed with demons and have a combination of demon blood and human blood, and they all try to control this blood; they are a dominant family in Misaki town and control many corporations and companies, etc." I look at this man confused as I state that there is no such family as the Tohnos that existed, but I didn't want to say it out loud in order not to offend the man, so I kept this in the back of my mind. I then asked him, "Are you from around here? You seemed to not know of the Tohsaka until I explained it, so where are you from, what prefecture, and when did you come here as well?" The man thought up an answer that would satisfy this girl as he stated, "I am from Okayama; it's a several-hour train ride from here, and I come from a town that you likely wouldn't know of unless you're a weirdo who knows this stuff, but you don't seem to be that type." The strange man answered with confidence as he let out a little laugh. His laugh was kind of cute, as it was like a little boy's, which put me at ease. This strange man continued to talk to me, and I listened. I didn't really have much to say. He seems like the talkative and interactive type, like Nee san and Tohsaka senpai. He even looks a little like Nee San, and even I see a little of him in this stranger who helped me out with my groceries. The strange man finally asked me, "What is your name, girl?" I answered Sakura Matou, and he looked at me strangely as he said, I've never heard of the Matous; who are they and what do they do?" "You don't know the Matous!" I answered because I was really confused. Does this guy live under a rock or what? The strange man made a strange request to me at this point: "Uh, can I call you Sakura-Chan?" I started to be nervous, and my face flushed red at this. No man had ever called me Sakura-Chan before; only my Nee San when I was a little girl called me that. No man, for sure—not even Nee San at my current house—called me this title. I replied weakly, and the strange man just replied, "No reason I called you that, it was just a whim," so he says I decided to eventually part with this strange man until he stopped me by grabbing my hand and asking me a question, Sakura-Chan, do you know any famous Manga artists in this city?" He asked suddenly and abruptly. I answered, Uhm, there is only one mangaka who lives in Fuyuki; his name is Mitsuteru Yokoyama. He thanked me after that. I carried the groceries back to my home as it took a 15-minute walk to go back home, but it clearly was a good hour I spent talking with this stranger that I encountered.

It has been 15 minutes since I arrived at the house. I took out all the groceries and put them in the kitchen. Nee San arrived because I heard footsteps upstairs. I decided to put it on quickly, and afterwards I went to my room. However, Nee San saw me as he turned around and gave me a look of scorn as he began to deride me, calling me a useless dullard and other things. I began to plead with him to stop, but he slapped me, and I just accepted it in order to give him what he wants. I feel bad for him because he is like this because of me, but I then ignore it and move to my room as I sit down and write down in my diary all of the events that have transpired so far. After I finished writing my recollections down, I decided to change out of my sweaty uniform and put on my normal casual clothing. Which consists of a pink cardigan top with a shirt and a cream-coloured skirt. I then settle down in bed to relax after the day.

Two Hours later...

I finally decided to get up as I stretched in bed and got up as I put my diary, which was in my side drawer, on my study table and decided to get up to go do something. I heard the voice of my grandfather telling me to come to the worm pit. As I made my way there, I took off all of my clothing to go to the pit: my skirt, my top, my cardigan, and my undergarments, all of it in order to be in the worm pit naked as my grandfather requested. However, on the way, Nee san pushed me, and I almost stumbled as I regained my balance as I walked down the stairs to the basement and met my grandfather, who was there in the centre of the worm pit waiting for my arrival. As all of the worms seemed to follow my grandfather's command, he stared at me like a bird protecting its offspring as he greeted me with his typical authoritative voice. "Greetings Sakura I didn't think you would come so quickly; normally you would be off doing something else, but it seems you are rather bored today, aren't we?" Um, for what purpose did you call me grandfather? "It's simple, Sakura; today is the day we shall summon your servant for something called a holy grail war?. I trust that you have something of a catalyst, perhaps to offer this summoning circle or not." I state, Grandfather, I don't have what you'd call a catalyst in my hands at this very moment. If I did, I would've tried to use it on the summoning circle that is there, and besides, I don't even know what a summoning circle or even a servant is. What are these things, and why are they so important?"

"Sakura Listen, the holy grail war is a tournament that magi like us compete in to get an omnipotent wish-granting device like the holy grail, which can make any wish come true, but that's only if you get rid of the other competitors and claim the grail for yourself. There are seven servants and seven masters that the grail selects to make them compete over its ownership. The grail grants you a familiar in the form of something called a heroic spirit, the spirits of ancient heroes from the past, present, and future that you can command. But these are no familiars; they are ghost liners, the highest class of familiars and one that borders on sorcery due to almost resurrecting the dead in spirit form to fight as familiars for a human magi that is a master. The heroic spirits come in seven servant classes. Lancer, Berserker, Sabre, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Archer—these are the seven containers the holy grail assigns servants to make summoning a lot easier, as even the holy grail has its limits when it comes to this sort of thing. The grail gives out something called command spells to would-be masters sometimes a day before summoning a servant, or it can even be as early as 3 years before the holy grail war; it all depends on the time the grail gives it to you. Command spells are three trinkets that can allow your servant to unilaterally obey any order you give; the more vague it is, the greater the chances of the servant disobeying. However, the more specific the order, the more likely they are to obey you. Don't waste these trinkets; whoever wasted command spells in the past got themselves killed and lost all rights to being a master, and thus at that point they had to go to the church or die by other masters. So, Sakura, do you get the basic gist of it? I condensed it down for someone of your calibre to be able to understand it." I nod accordingly. "Yes, grandfather, I understand, but I have a few questions." I state this calmly and without fear or hesitation. "Firstly, what determines the heroic spirit that the summoner will summon? What factors need to be considered to get the type of heroic spirit you want?" Grandfather stopped for a bit as he looked around the dark basement before turning his bug-like eyes back to me and giving out his answer. "Servants are symbolic of their masters; in other words, masters summon servants that are of a similar nature and disposition to them; a righteous master will never summon a devilish servant, nor will a devilish master summon a heroic and noble servant. Not to mention it depends on the catalyst and magical ability of the summoner as well, which will determine what servant the master gets in the end."

I nod in understanding as I look at my grandfather, and I look at him as if to say, "What else should I do now?" and he stated rather straightforwardly, "Well then, heheheheh, if we don't have any catalyst available now, I suppose I should use your body as a catalyst to see what heroic spirit shall be granted to you at this moment."

Right as the old magus stated that as a matter of fact, a creek of the big door ensued as a figure stepped down a familiar one as he skipped down the stairs and came down as he saw the naked Sakura and felt like laughing at her but kept his distance as he bore witness to the up and coming ritual with anger and hate as Zouken put Sakura the doll on the summoning circle.

The circle was set, and the ritual commenced at this point.

"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let Vermillion be the colour I pay tribute to. Let my great Master Makiri be the ancestor. Let a wall rise against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching the Kingdom rotate. I hereby declare Your body shall serve under me. My fate will be your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you will submit to this will and this reason... Then answer! An oath shall be sworn here! I shall attain all the virtues of heaven. I shall have dominion over all evils in all of Hell! From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraints, protector of the Holy Balance!"

As the circle flashed with light, a figure came out of the circle. He was tall, roughly around 510, and also appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties. He had golden blonde hair with streaks of red in them, wore armour reminiscent of old western aristocracy, and had red beast-like eyes that were very noticeable.

Shinji Matou saw the scene and began to excitedly remark, "A servant, wow, this is the power of a servant and is a powerful magecraft. Woohooo, I use him and win the holy grail war; he is my personal trump card."

Hey, he remarked the boy as he pushed the girl on the circle aside and remarked to the tall golden figure, "Your master is me. Forget that useless girl existed. I am your master. You will listen to what I have to say. Is that clear with you?"

"The proof of my mastership is this book; you do understand its power, right?" The boy kept screaming like a wild dog to the golden figure, who was unimpressed and very much annoyed at the obnoxious voice of this boy and his exceeding arrogance. He spoke up finally, not to the boy but to the girl, whom he shoved aside callously, "I asketh if thou art thee w'rthy to beest mine own mast'r? Young mistress?" he remarked in his bold and confident voice. WHATTTTTT The boy kept screaming like a broken record as he kept trying to convince the golden man that he, not the girl, was his true master. But the girl, due to the strain of the summoning, had passed out at this point and was laying on the bare floor as she fell into what seemed to be a deep sleep. The man in the shadow laughed as he began to remark, "KEKEKEKEKEKE. I only allowed the summoning to merely give it a test run. But I didn't expect a knight-class heroic servant to come out. I thought some evil anti-hero, monster, god, or oni was going to come out due to the nature of the girl. Things sure are surprising compared to last time." The old man continued as Shinji tried to desperately convince Richard the first that he was in fact on his side and his master, as the golden heroic spirit ignored him and walked towards his master and tried to check up on her. He finds out that his master is alive but out for now due to the strain of the summoning. He picked her up and didn't look back as Shinji blurted out, "What kind of hero are you, Golden Knight?" Richard turned around and started, "I am a king of the crusades and one who led the charge against one of the most infamous men in the era, Saladin, and had taken important victories for Christianity." Shinji stuttered as he blurted out names for what kind of hero Richard could possibly be. "Phillip the second? Reymond of Tripoli? Who are you?" Richard kept trying to hold his laughter as he simply walked away and carried his master, who was butt naked, in his own arms and gave her his cape to wrap around her cold and bare body. Richard carried Sakura to the living room and put her there, where she had a nap of sorts as he left and wandered the house. Meanwhile, Shinji coped and seethed that Richard ditched him for "worm girl" and kept raging for an hour straight until Zouken placated him with another promise.

Interlude (several hours earlier)

I came to this city several hours ago by train, as I had booked a ticket from my city in the prefecture of Okayama. I wanted to get away from my crusty old town and go visit a new place. It's not like I have a purpose anyway; I'm just here to calm my mind and probably meet some new people. I walked around the Miyama area with nothing to do as I toured the place. It made me feel oddly better. I received a disturbing vision back from where I came from about a boy killing people. I haven't been able to smile normally since then, more or less because of the vision I received. I then come to a shopping district, where I see a girl struggling to carry groceries that look much heavier than your average groceries. I went up to her and helped her out as we walked together. We arrived at a children's park as we sat down with the groceries on the ground, and I looked at this strange girl. This girl had average height. She also had very light skin and wore a school uniform that belonged to a school I didn't know of. She also had violet hair and violet-coloured eyes, as I scanned her. Anyway, this girl sits down, and I blurt out accidentally, "You looked like you needed help, so I decided to help you carry your groceries." The girl's face turned red at this point, and I sensed that she was one of the more feminine and bashful types compared to all of these other "women" who try too hard to act like men. "You're one of those bashful types, aren't you?" I stated matter-of-factly that the girl asked me what my name was, and I answered straight away as if I had expected this to happen eventually. "My name is Tohno Shiki." I answered her question, hoping she would be satisfied. The girl replied, "Sakura Matou" . I found that an odd name considering where I am from; not a single person had their name Sakura or Matou, so this came as a surprise. This city is weird, to be frank. Anyways, the girl goes on about how "Tohno" is such an alien name to her and how she never heard of it once, which I understand means that here the Tohno family doesn't exist. It's kind of odd that you would think such a powerful and respected family would exist here, but nope, not in this damn city. I decided to ask her a little something before she started to say anything. "Do you know the Aozakis?" She froze up and said no, asking me who they were. I ignored her question, as she then asked me if the Tohno were a branch family of the Tohsaka. I questioned her about who the Tohsaka are and what they do. "The Tohsaka are spiritual guardians of this land that the city is built on and the nearby lands as well; they are the owners and overseers of this city, and they have a duty to protect it." I was stunned as I then replied weakly, "I see then." She then asked me if I knew the Matou family. Again, I stated that I don't know who the Matous are or what they do, and she then stated that I must live under a rock or something as I looked away. I explained to her what the Tohno are about and where I came from to throw off any potential questions she might have in that regard. I then made a request to this girl, as I stated bluntly, "Um, can I call you Sakura-Chan?" She started stuttering and muttering things as I said that, with her face turning red. It was kind of funny, but not for good reasons. Shit, I get a lapse as I see the records of this girl's life thanks to one of my ESP powers in my left eye as I see her memories. I see that this girl was raped by cockworms and had her magic circuits torn by them, along with the fact that she isn't truly a Matou but a Tohsaka that was forced to fit into the cruel Matous mould. I see that she was taken advantage of by her adopted brother, among other things. I see; this explains why this girl is submissive as I look at her again and part with her after this. But, before this, I asked her something like, "Sakura-Chan? Do you know any Mangaka here in this city?" She stuttered and was taken aback by this as she answered that there was in fact only one in this damn city, "Mitsuteru Yokoyama." I then replied, I see, and we parted ways with this strange girl.

I left the scene soon after and decided to walk to find a place to live, as I realised I wouldn't have long before I was out of options, so I decided to wander the city, and it took me a couple of hours, but I found this old-looking house that was close to some stupid church, and it seemed to be empty. I took my belongings, which I had hidden from the girl, and decided to settle in at this place. I opened the door and closed it, and to my surprise, there were already keys in the drawers. I decided to put my stuff in and just sleep in the bed that was there. After all, it was free real estate. I checked out the chairs and fancy furniture before that, and boy, oh boy, does it not disappoint. Whoever lived here clearly had a sense of craftsmanship here on the inside, even if the outside is a bit blocky and shite. Anyway, I love that this place doesn't have stupid technology like TVs, VCRs, or whatever these damn kids are into nowadays. I just relaxed here before I went out for the night for a walk.